CWD transmission, via the intrastate shipments of "farmed" deer and elk, is certainly somewhat responsible for much of the spread of CWD.
When CWD was first documented in PA, it was found at several "deer farms" in York and Adams counties (both near the MD border). Try as they might, never did sort out where all of those captive deer from those affected areas, actually wound up. Fair to figure that many of those deer were scattered about the country, before anyone knew for sure there were CWD concerns? Much of that is due to lax oversight of the PA Dept. of Agriculture's poor management of deer farm operations.
Game Commission long had jurisdiction over farmed cervids in PA. That ended years ago, when the legislature gave jurisdiction to AG, mostly because cervid farmers complained about too much oversight and too many inspections. Draw your own conclusions.
